Pittsburgh, PA- The Mount Aloysius Men's Basketball team lost a hard fought game to La Roche College on Wednesday. The Mounties led through most of the first half, and remained close to the first place Redhawks through the second half. However, a late 9-0 run by La Roche led to the 71-62 defeat.

The Mounties got off to a quick start as Julian Stover (Washington, DC/Richard Montgomery) hit two threes and Carlos Palacio (Bilbao, Spain/Phelps School) hit a lay up to put the Mounties up 5 just 2 minutes in. La Roche was able to cut into the Mounties lead slowly throughout the half as they whittled it down to 1 with 8:19 remaining in the period. The Mounties responded as Trent McErlane (Greenville, PA/Greenville) hit a three on a second chance opportunity and Imrane Amadou made a lay up on the following possession to move the lead back to 6. La Roche responded by stepping up their defense over the final 6:47, allowing the Mounties to score only one field goal to finish the half, while going on a 12 point run of their own to end the half with a four point lead.

After the break, La Roche started the second half with a basket on their first possession, however the Mounties responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 31 with 17:20 to go. The Mounties took the lead just over a minute later on a Stover free throw, then La Roche retook the lead on the last possession on a three point play and built a 5 point lead with just under half the period remaining. The Mounties went on a 7-2 run in under a minute after La Roche went up 5 points to erase the lead, finishing on a Palacio three from the wing to tie the game at 47. The game remained close for the next 5 minutes as Mount Aloysius was able to respond to each La Roche basket with one of their own. After another game tying Palacio three ball with 3:53 to go, La Roche would again stiffen their defense for the last 4 minutes of play. The Mounties were unable to find the basket as the Redhawks closed the game on a 9-0 run.

Palacio and Stover both scored 21 points for the Mounties. Palacio finished 7-17 from the field, including 3-10 from beyond the arc. He also collected 7 rebounds. Stover went 6-13 from the field while also hitting 7-9 from the free throw stripe. 

The Mounties (7-6 Overall, 4-2 AMCC) will look to get back in the win column on Saturday as they travel to Pitt-Bradford for another AMCC match up. The game begins at 4:00 PM.